The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 21.8

Mile marker: 881.8

It’s another cold morning as I pack up all my things. I’m a little slow today, maybe due to sleeping in a bit. 

As promised, Luxy and I head over to Jan’s tent before we leave. We slowly unzip his tent. He’s mumbling something as we open his door. I find him completely covered by a thick sleeping bag. Luxy and I fall over his chest for a hug. 

He is smiling as he uncovers his face and pulls his arms out to wrap me in a warm hug on a cold morning. 

He’s a furnace and my hands are ice. 

We’re fastening the doors of his vestibule open as he says, “What do I owe you for this service?”

“An instant coffee and hot chocolate,” I say. 

He asks for the time and swears when Luxy says it’s 5:30 in the morning. 

As we walk away, he says, “How much for breakfast in bed?” Then, after a few morning groans, “Oh wow! The view!”

We begin the walk through a green forest along a skinny dirt path. Rafiki impersonates Jack Sparrow yet again as he delicately hangs his hands and hops across rocks on a river crossing. 

We continue uphill and the landscape opens up. The sky opens up as I climb up the rock staircase. The light from the sun makes the soft clouds glow. 

We pass by a lake that reflects the entire forest of alpine trees. The path is bordered by rocks and plushy grass as we walk through. 

A little ground squirrel — or rodent of some type — scurries from the rock and nibbles on the pink flowers. 

Our hike continues through scattered green rock and to a beautiful blue lake that stretches out to a forest of pine trees. The mountains are layers above the woods. 

We step into the warm sunlight and white rapids crash over the stone of a waterfall. It’s so beautiful out here. Life is so peaceful with chirping birds and the gentle flow of the river. 

The creek snakes through green grass as we walk. The walls on either side of me are pale gray with green brush growing from them. 

We hike up the pass. It opens up to a landscape of a large blue lake and mountains that are layered in the distance. Half of the view looks so desolate as I look to my right. The left is full of the wide-open view. 

A glistening lake meets us on the other end of the pass. The terrain turns to rock slabs and green grass. Trees are scattered about, and logs that have been chopped down are on either side of the path. 

The sky has turned gray. Hopefully it doesn’t rain on us! We reach a river that has two skinny logs lying over the river. That’s our bridge. 

Savannah extends her trekking poles so they act as extra long arms, which helps her get across the logs. 

We walk for a bit until we find Savannah’s lunch spot from her previous time on the JMT. We walk for a few minutes and finally spot her rock!

I’m returning from the restroom when I come across Luxy and Savannah in a precarious situation. Luxy is fishing with her trekking poles and Savannah on her stomach with her face to the river. 

It’s a rogue water bottle, taken by the wind. I join them in dropping to the rock, reaching forward and grabbing the bottle, then handing it off to Luxy. Glad we saved that one. 

The sun goes in and out as we lunch. I have to lay out my sleeping bag since it was a bit wet this morning. Rafiki is napping on his mat as Luxy, Savannah and I reminisce about middle school health class. Great girl talk. 

Rafiki has been pretty tired these past couple of days. 

“Do you have sepsis on your butt?” Luxy asks. She is, of course, referring to Rafiki’s wound on his backside from sliding down Forester Pass. Often times, we refer to Luxy as Nurse Luxy, since she studied the subject. 

Well, for two weeks, anyway. 

The wind is blowing here and there, the sun in and out. Luxy checks Rafiki’s wound and informs us he does not have sepsis.

I pack everything up and continue walking. We enjoy beautiful views with darkening clouds. The brush is vibrant green as we walk through. 

I see lots of snow flowers as our scenery turns to forest. The snow flowers are dead here, though. Most of them aren’t too bright, but there are a lot of them!

It seems to go on forever and ever. We’re trying to get as far as we can today, so we can get to town as early as possible. 

I fall into a rock throne by a river to have a snack. We hang out here for a few minutes before pressing on. 

We continue up the stone staircase. 

Bumper is on the ridge! We join him, lowering ourselves into the trees to protect us from the wind. Rafiki goes around and helps everyone put up their tents in the wind. 

We have dinner and hop into bed. It was another long day!